Expect the Unexpected
by frozencharisma
Summary: A Taiyama spy/espionage!fic. What happens to the Chosen after they fulfill their destiny of saving the world as mere children? They move onto their destiny of saving the world as mere adults: one undercover mission at a time and as elite secret servants for the government. No matter what they do, they can't quite seem to leave their past behind.


**A/N:** Okay, I will shamelessly admit that the only reason I started writing this was because I was just picturing how hot Taichi and Yamato would be as undercover spies. It kind of… evolved… from there.

 **Warning:** Contains Taiyama (I personally don't think it's very much more than the amount of Taiyama in Tri, at least in this chapter), but if you don't like, don't read. Also, mentions of child trafficking.

* * *

A gathering between the socially elite, the morally corrupt, and the criminals of the streets was occurring in one of the shadiest parts of the country, far away from the jurisdiction of any government. Taichi had been certain the moment he stepped through its extravagant entrance that the entire establishment was steeped in black money.

Taichi sauntered over to an elegant cocktail bar and ordered a drink, taking special notice of the way the bartender's eyes scanned the room as she shook the cocktail. _She was part of the security too._

The entire place was teeming with security. This was how the mafia worked, after all. They didn't seem to feel comfortable unless they knew they could take down an enemy in an instant in a hundred different ways.

The security wasn't exactly surprising to anyone, considering the illicit happenings during the "gala" tonight and the amount of concentrated wealth in the grand ballroom. It had taken Taichi and the others months of planning behind the scenes just to gain access to the hotel, and even at this point they had very little true information on the organizers. From top to bottom, these types of human auctions were always shrouded in secrecy.

Part of him wished that the government could just release its offensive force on this hotel and capture the perpetrators once and for all, but he was no longer naive enough to believe that politics could work like that. Besides, it would probably end in a blood bath - which would just make it more impossible for Taichi and the others to access other underground events.

* * *

Taichi had been engaged in a dreadful conversation about cars and oriental rugs when he first caught sight of him. An indiscernible hitch in Taichi's breath was the only indication that he was affected in the least, and he quickly laughed it off.

It had been almost a year since he'd last seen Agent Blue. True, his eyes were a clear hazel-grey instead of a brilliant blue, and his hair a neatly-parted black instead of the usual blond of his youth, but it was undeniably Yamato.

Taichi wondered vaguely whether it was a wig or if Yamato had dyed his natural hair, and then decided it didn't matter. Regardless, the white suit he was dressed in contrasted nicely with the black.

Grasping lightly onto Yamato's arm was a redhead woman (Taichi was fairly certain that _was_ a wig, though, as she was surely old enough to have grey hair) with a long white fur coat and golden heels.

It would have been entirely imperceptible to anyone except those closest to Taichi, but his left eye twitched ever so slightly.

The woman, Taichi assumed, had been Yamato's ticket in. How exactly Yamato had managed to enter that wealthy of a circle with the limited time they'd been given was left to Taichi's imagination, but the fact that it may have involved sexual favors was not lost upon him.

 _Earth to Agent Orange. (The agent names had been Takeru's idea. Taichi thought it was just because he liked to secretly laugh at them.) Continue staring any longer and you'll certainly jeopardize the mission._

He was so used to hearing Koushiro's voice in his ear that his own inner voice often mimicked the red-haired prodigy. He was only confident it wasn't Koushiro in his ear this time because a static interference protection system around the hotel had rendered their usual earpieces and transmissions with Koushiro useless. It had been a minor glitch in the operation, but they would work around it.

Reprimanded by the voice in his head, Taichi subtly turned his attention back to the young man to his right. He was certain that no one had noted the extremely nominal shift in his behavior, but he was still thoroughly annoyed at how easily he'd been distracted. He had been doing this for far too long to be tripped up by something so insignificant.

He had only left his previous group for a few minutes when he noticed a slight movement towards him in his periphery.

 _"Boss 1 rapidly approaching you, Agent Orange. Please take great caution not to punch him, thereby giving yourself away"_ is what Koushiro's voice would have said to him right now. Taichi swore that kid's level of sass increased by the day.

From his appearance, Taichi surmised that "Boss 1" was one of the head honchos of this entire event. He was dressed in a sleazy tan suit, stood several inches shorter than Taichi, and had gray-streaked hair covering most of his face.

He stared Taichi up and down with beady eyes and stuck out a hand. "Well, if it isn't a new face. I'm Mr. Salazar, I'm in charge of the "entertainment" tonight. I trust everything is to your liking, thus far?"

He appeared to be sizing up how much wealth Taichi had to spend tonight. Taichi was secretly thankful that the government had lent him a blue suit worth more than his monthly mortgage to assist him with playing his role, which was that of a "bored rich kid interested in new 'toys' to play with".

Taichi smiled easily at the other man and returned the handshake firmly. _Oh, how I would like to strangle this bastard… What kind of sick monster sells human beings for a living?_ One would think Taichi would be immune to these acts considering how many times he'd seen these monsters over the years, but it still made his blood boil.

Fortunately, the one thing he had gotten better at was controlling his outward reactions.

"Everything has been extremely accommodating." Taichi continued in a low voice with just the right amount of cockiness instilled, "I'm looking forward to your _quality_ tonight. The rumors are that you bring the best in the area."

The bastard's smile widened, making Taichi all the more tempted to wipe it off. "I assure you won't be disappointed, sir. " The gleam in his eyes intensified. "Especially not tonight."

The short man finally moseyed away, leaving Taichi with a strong urge to stick his hand, _hell_ , his whole arm, into a bucket of bleach. He settled with adjusting his cuff links and placing one hand into his pocket as he walked over to the dessert bar.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Sora –ah, right, _Agent Pink-_ dressed in a black and white hostess outfit with a long blonde wing. He found himself wondering, as he often did with the girls' disguises, what kind of witchcraft they performed to hide the required two guns and one knife on their bodies.

The blonde Sora offered Mr. Bastard –oh, right, Mr. Salazar (he was sure that wasn't his real name anyway)- one of the champagne glasses she was carrying on a large tray. He gratefully accepted, and Taichi refocused his attention on grabbing the cup of chocolate mousse in front of him. He didn't have to keep watching to know that Sora cleverly maneuvered the correct drug-infused glass into his hand. _No one is better than her at the slight-of-hand tricks._

* * *

Taichi wandered by a smaller parlor room filled with billiard tables, poker stations, and cigars. _A gathering of vices, huh? I may be able to collect some information there._ But he regretted it as soon as he entered. Call it intuition, or telepathy, or whatever, but they always seemed to be able to sense each other's presence.

Sure enough, the timbre of a familiar laugh soon drifted into his ears and Taichi observed, without really looking, that the blond (or rather, the raven) was lounging on a luxurious purple couch in the corner of the room with the red-haired woman draped over his shoulder.

He cursed the fact that he had just walked in so he couldn't leave without it looking unnatural, and took a seat at the poker table instead.

"Oh, this young sonny feels like taking on the veterans here?" An older man with a cane chuckled.

"Ah, I never said that. I just can't resist a good gamble." Taichi said sheepishly.

After the first round, he'd gathered with reasonable certainty which methods every other person around the table was using to cheat, but he continued increasing his bets every round, because well, what else would a rich kid do? Only after 5 more losing rounds did Taichi feel content to leave.

As he eyed the profligate buffet spread, he forced himself to look excited rather than disturbed by the wastefulness.

"Wine, sir?" came a sweet voice to the side of him.

As he turned, Taichi's eyes locked onto Mimi's, neither one's body language showing any sign of recognition. Taichi made a mental note to inform her, er, Agent Green, later on that the nose piercing was a good look with the bob cut.

"Yes, please, which do you have?" replied Taichi, though he strongly disliked wine. He spied the bartender looking in their direction.

"The white is a _Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough_ and the red is a _Cabarnet Superieur_." Mimi rattled off the names with perfect pronunciation, an easy feat considering how many languages she was fluent in.

She continued, "The red comes highly recommended by the house." There was the smallest hint of a twinkle in Mimi's eyes. _God damn her, she knows I hate red wine the most_.

Taichi grinned. "The red sounds great, then."

Mimi nodded and reached for a glass of the red liquid. She paired it with a white napkin and handed it over to Taichi before continuing on to a nearby group of bachelors.

Taichi strolled away from her cheerful voice- _"You all look like you could use another glass of wine…"-_ in the background.

He tucked the napkin into his suit pocket and sipped on his glass, grimacing internally as the bitter liquid pooled into his mouth. He leaned casually against a pillar, looking out onto the lounge area.

A heavy feeling of nostalgia was taking residence in the depths of his chest. _How long had it been since most of them had all been on one mission together? Several months at the least._ The government had insisted on each of them coming back for this mission; though Taichi couldn't imagine why since it had appeared to be a fairly normal undertaking thus far. And because of this mission they'd only been allowed limited contact with each other during the entire preparation time.

At the next best opportunity, he finished the last of his drink and headed to the men's bathroom. Once inside the stall, he did a quick inspection to make sure there weren't any hidden cameras. You could never be too careful in enemy territory. Once assured that it was safe, he pulled out the napkin Mimi had handed him. Unfolding the napkin, Taichi found the message written in neat handwriting that was certainly Koushiro's.

 _"7_ _th_ _floor, Room 735. 14 g/ 6 b. 5 security, 2 outside/3 in. Will deactivate the two cameras on ceiling hallway and the 1 cam on inside of room east wall. Use stairs for all hidden transit. Hit at 18:00. Out by 18:15."_

14 girls and 6 boys? Under the cover of the bathroom stall, Taichi finally allowed the scowl on his face. _Everyone here, all these rich complicit bystanders, they were all despicable._ He took a deep breath and waited about 45 more seconds and then flushed the napkin down along with the rest of the contents of the toilet.

As he washed his hands, he thought back to the message on the napkin. He trusted Koushiro and Jyou's intel-gathering capabilities immensely, but there were still a few things bothering him (three to be exact).

For one, the amount of security around the room seemed far too low, especially given the caliber of this establishment and the number of undercover hitmen he'd seen downstairs. But, Taichi reasoned, it could just be that the security around the room had been limited so as to not draw attention. Or perhaps, the mafia had focused their efforts to securing the outer perimeter of the hotel instead of the inside.

Two, something that the sleazy bastard had said earlier didn't sit quite right with him. He had said that the entertainment would be great _"Especially tonight."_ It gave Taichi the impression that something different, something grand, was being debuted tonight. And while auctioning 14 girls and 6 boys was an extremely despicable act in and of itself, it wasn't exactly far from the norm when it came to these events.

And three… the third thing he couldn't quite place, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something essential for rescuing the kids.

* * *

He stepped outside from the bathroom and spent time socializing until his watch read 17:30. At this point, he walked to the elevator.

"Floor, sir?" The attendant within asked him.

"14, please."

As the elevators opened, he walked over to 1452, the room he had booked a stay in for the duration of the weekend, and entered. He grabbed several types of extremely strong tranquilizing instruments, knowing that the job needed to be done quietly.

At about 17:55, he left the room, this time taking the stairs down to the 7th floor, where the captives were located. According to Koushiro's message, he had a 15 minute window of time where the security cameras would be fed fake video footage. He also trusted that Jyou and Koushiro had somehow taken care of everything else to ensure they wouldn't be interrupted during these 15 minutes.

Taichi opened the door onto the 7th floor with more force than necessary, before stumbling out.

"Ahh, I can't believe I got off at the wrong fl-ooor. Is this the 7th one?" Taichi slurred.

There were two housekeepers scattered among the hallway. They looked at each other suspiciously.

 _Gotcha. 2 housekeeping security guards._

"I wonder which one is my r-room." He wobbled down the hall, reading the room numbers loudly.

They guards looked sufficiently wary by this time, and they appeared to be debating at what point they should take Taichi down. Taichi had a strong suspicion that the only reason they were hesitating was the multi-thousand dollar suit he was wearing.

 _I just need to get a little closer to both of them._

He was just a couple feet away from the first guard and about 20 feet from the second.

With just a flick of his finger, he shot the first guard with a tranquilizer in the leg. The guard's leg started convulsing for a few seconds before he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

The second guard had immediately pulled out his gun at the first sign of issue and was aiming it at Taichi, but it was too late. Taichi had already hit him with the tranquilizer and was running up to cover his mouth to ensure he didn't make any noise.

After Taichi was certain that the second guard was also out cold, he lowered him slowly to the floor.

xXxXxXxXxX

He made his way towards Room 735, reaching into his pocket and deciding how he would handle the remaining security.

Taichi's face fell and he nearly stumbled as it hit him what that third essential thing he felt that he'd been missing was: _the hotel key card for room 735_. Knowing that Jyou would not have forgotten that crucial piece, he shut his eyes and thought back. _Where, where was it? Shit._ Doing this without the earpieces and Koushiro's guidance was significantly harder.

 _Had it been Mimi?_ His mind flashed back to Mimi, walking away from him towards the other group. There had been a flowerpot on the table next to their group, had she put the key in there? No… that would have been too difficult for Taichi to retrieve without being noticed.

Or, perhaps it been Sora, who had spent an extra few seconds walking by the hotel concierge. He was probably supposed to have retrieved it there.

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck._ On the outside, Taichi may have looked relatively calm, but on the inside his mind was racing to calculate the next course of action _. Bad. I have to get back there and recover it, or potentially I can get a new key, but still recover it later, but there's not enough time – about 12 minutes until the boss would be alerted- so I'll need a way to get in without the key-_

He jolted as a cool piece of plastic was pressed against his forehead.

"Missing something?" A smooth voice said from behind him into his ear.

Taichi whipped his head around and brown eyes met blue. Or, well, they would have been blue if those damn hazel-grey contacts weren't obscuring them.

Yamato stood all of one foot away from him, his eyes twinkling and the usual shit-eating grin adorning his face. He held the hotel key between his index and middle finger. Of course it was Yamato, no one else would've been able to get within 10 meters of Taichi without him noticing it. Yamato could have been a ghost for all the noise he made.

" _You're supposed to be downstairs!"_ Taichi whispered hotly.

"Is that how you say 'thank you' in Taichi-speak?"

"I was about to figure out what to do by myself anyway." Taichi said through gritted teeth.

The smile suddenly disappeared from Yamato's face and he placed his palm flat against the wall behind Taichi's left ear. He leaned in close enough to Taichi that his breath ghosted over the other's cheekbone. "In case you're curious, Mimi gave me the key. You were supposed to get it from me."

 _Fuck, of course she had_. Taichi wished a hole would magically appear in the wall behind him that he could escape into.

Yamato's eyes flashed as he continued. Taichi had to avert his gaze for a quarter of a second to recover from the level of intensity directed at him.

"Which is something you would've _known_ if you hadn't been avoiding eye contact with me all night."

It was subtle, but Taichi grasped the underlying accusation behind his simple words: _What the hell have you been up to that's making you too guilty to look at me?_

Of course Yamato had misunderstood. That possessive and unreasonable _hypocrite_.

Taichi growled in return, "I was just trying to be careful. You saw how much security there was. Plus, you seemed a bit busy with your companion." He was full of shit, of course, and him and Yamato had both picked up on what he meant to say: _Those damn eyes of yours are too distracting. And I want to murder your date._

Yamato deliberated Taichi's wordless answer, but must have deemed it acceptable because he finally leaned back and shrugged. "Well, lucky for you, I'd already finished what I was supposed to do so I thought I'd hand-deliver the key. And don't worry, the _madame_ thinks I'm currently checking out a collection of cigars." Now that he'd let down his poker face, his distaste for the _madame_ was obvious and Taichi somewhat regretted bringing it up.

Taichi looked at his watch. He had a feeling neither of them were quite off the hook yet, but they didn't really have time for a bickering session now so this would probably be a future discussion. "Fine," he grumbled. "Let's just get this over with. We have about 10 minutes."

He added as an afterthought, "Since we're doing this together, I'd prefer not to use guns. The blood is a pain to clean, and there are children in there. Plus, you're wearing white."

"How very considerate of you."

XxXxXxXxXxX

A break-in into a hotel room was complicated because of the limited entryways. For instance, as soon as the security on the inside heard the click of the front door being opened, they would target the entrance. If Taichi or Yamato were to try and sneak in, they'd be dead immediately.

Fortunately, Taichi and Yamato had been trained in several similar simulations. There were still plenty of things that could go wrong, of course, but that's what quick-thinking was for.

"#4?" Yamato asked and Taichi nodded.

Taichi stood with his back pressed against the hallway on one side of the door with his hand hovering over the handle.

Yamato knocked firmly on the door and quickly bent down close to the floor and out of view of the eyehole with his ear on the door.

A gruff voice on the inside said, "Those guys out there know they can't come. They probably want to use the bathroom or something." The same voice called loudly, "You all aren't allowed in till the event is over."

Taichi and Yamato held their breath.

Another muffled voice said, "Why ain't they saying anything?" Yamato heard two clicks, meaning that both guards were readying their guns. "I'm going to check who it is."

 _"Bingo."_ Yamato thought triumphantly. He raised one hand at Taichi, indicating to wait. He heard footsteps coming closer to the eyehole on the door.

 _Wait. Wait. Just a little closer_.

"I don't see any-"

Yamato signaled a "go" for Taichi.

Taichi promptly hit the keycard against the handle and busted open the door with Yamato trailing close behind him.

"Urrh!" they both heard as the first guard was hit in the face with the door and shoved roughly against the wall.

"Clavis, shit!" came the voice from the other guard.

Taichi knocked out the first guard and grabbed his body to use as a cover as both him and Yamato barged in, taking advantage of the narrow hallway by the entrance.

In approximately one second, Taichi took in the layout of the room, mentally noting the places of all potential hidden weapons, cameras, and blind spots. He also spotted the children, cowering against the wall and the bed.

In that same second, Yamato swiftly jumped out from behind the cover, using the split moment of surprise to knock the gun out of the second guard's hands. Yamato then pulled him forward and slammed an elbow into the back of his neck, and the other fell to the ground unconscious. Yamato looked around and tried his best not to be distracted by the fear and awe in the eyes of the hiding children.

Taichi didn't relax even as Yamato disconnected all modes of communication in the room. _There should be one more guard according to Jyou…_

The bathroom door suddenly opened and Taichi quickly dodged a hook to his face. He thanked his blessings that the guard seemed to have been caught in the bathroom and didn't have a gun or he probably would've been shot.

He tried to slam the assailant back into the shower, but the close quarters of the bathroom didn't give him enough leverage. Along with the fact that this guy probably weighed twice as much as him. He wrestled against the other, until Yamato suddenly appeared next to him and quickly handcuffed the guy and gagged him.

Taichi hated to admit it, but he really missed the days when the two of them were partners. They worked together seamlessly.

"That should be good enough," Yamato was saying. "We're going to capture all of them anyway. Jyou's ready in a car downstairs outside the secret exit."

They had about six minutes left.

Taichi nodded, panting heavily. He hoped to god he hadn't ruined the suit. He had a backup, but he'd prefer not to have to use it. "Let's start with the kids and then get the guards."

No matter how many times he had done this, it always broke Taichi's heart to see the way the younger children and even older adults would flinch as they advanced towards them to help. It hurt him so much to see the fear and pain permanently etched into their features.

They had, of course, all been taught tactics on how to handle such situations, but Taichi always wished that Sora were around for this part since she seemed to have a way with comforting children.

Taichi and Yamato crouched down, purposely shrinking themselves down in front of the kids.

"Hey there," Yamato said softly, reaching out. "We're here to help you become free. We'll let you do whatever you want. But first, we can only help you if you leave this place."

Two olive-skinned girls with brown braided hair stared back emptily at him.

"You do want to leave this place, right? And those horrible people?" Yamato urged gently. Taichi looked into the eyes of the two girls and wondered if they, like himself, perceived Yamato in that moment as a true angel.

The younger of the two nodded, a single tear rolling down her face. With her small fingers, she grabbed onto Yamato's hand.

Taichi sighed out of relief. Once they gained the trust of one, it was much easier to get the rest to follow.

Slowly, but as fast as they could, they led each of the children down the stairs to the secret exit where Jyou was waiting outside with a disguised van.

"Okay, this is the most deserted spot in the vicinity, but I still _need_ to get out of here as fast as possible to make sure that we aren't caught. You won't believe how much security I had to get past," Jyou rambled.

Taichi and Yamato ran back up and each grabbed the guards, and forced the rest to walk down the stairs. They were to be hostages for the government and would hopefully lead to other rescues.

As Jyou successfully sped away with the many children and hostages, happiness tugged at Taichi's heart, but it was accompanied by an underlying nervousness.

Taichi raised his eyes and saw Yamato also giving him a strange look.

"We did great. But… don't you get the feeling that that was too easy? Those guards were definitely amateurs. Wasn't this mission supposed to be tough enough that they requested all of us to be here?"

Taichi nodded. "I've been feeling the same way all night. But unless something happens to Jyou, we got the kids away, which was the entire point of this… so I'm not sure what we could have missed."

Yamato cleared his throat and straightened his tie. "Well, we have to get back to the gala. We've already spent too much time away. The main "event" is going to start in an hour, so they're probably figuring out the kids are gone about now. We'll just make sure to get into contact with Jyou to make sure everything ended up working out."

"Yeah, you're right. You go first and I'll clean up in my room. Take the stairs so no one sees you."

Yamato just rolled his eyes as he smoothly fixed up his hair and walked towards the exit, which Taichi understood as his way of saying _I know that, what kind of idiot do you take me for?_

* * *

When Taichi blended back to the ballroom, the atmosphere was more or less the same as when he left it.

He was elated when he finally spied a scowl on Mr. Salazar's face, who was currently in a heated discussion with one of his employees.

This was generally one of Taichi's favorite parts of the mission: being able to observe the looks of terror and rage on the faces of the scum organizers as their plans are torn apart right under their noses. Of course, they deserved much worse than to just be angry, and Taichi almost relished in the fact that this involved the mafia and a few of these guys' lives would be taken over this blunder.

He'd just began to think that they may have been worrying for nothing when the lights dimmed and a voice announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your most gracious patience. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we will be skipping the _human_ event tonight, and proceeding right to the main course. We apologize for those of you who came solely for our human selection, but we hope that you will find something of interest in our newest collection."

There was a mix of cheering and murmuring in the crowd. No one looked as confused as Taichi felt, though, which was always a bad sign.

Taichi's mind whirred. _Had the memo they'd received been wrong? What exactly_ was _the main event tonight? They had been told that the event was a slave auction, and that their objective was to stop it and rescue the kids. It should've been completely canceled. There should be chaos._

Mr. Salazar was speaking from the stage now. "Thank you all for gathering for a most momentous unveiling."

"Some of you may have heard the rumors of the new age of laborers and slaves. What we are about to demonstrate to you is a class of genetically engineered creatures far surpassing the abilities of any type of artificial intelligence or robotic machinery."

The curtains fell back to expose 5 large shapes on the stage. Taichi jerked back his head incredulously when his brain finally processed what they were.

" _What the hell do they mean genetically engineered? Those were Digimon!"_ A hundred questions ran through Taichi's head. _They were smuggling Digimon? How did they get them? Why?_ Even the Chosen were no longer able to communicate with their Digimon friends.

"They've also been trained to be strong and particularly robust, so that they can do a variety of tasks for you." Mr. Salazar brought onto the stage another large Digimon, demanding it to carry a large refrigerator on its back.

When Taichi recognized the Digimon, a scream caught in his throat. _"Leomon!"_

"For all of you businessmen out there, I'm certain you can see the value in this."

Taichi's vision went red for an instant. _They wanted to use them as an endless supply of slaves and laborers?_

"Now, now, I understand a few of you may be concerned as some do look a bit scary. Not to worry, these… _creatures_ have been programmed to understand your every word and be extremely obedient. They can also respond. And, of course, we have tools designed to help you in any situation. "

Another announcer, who was holding a leash attached to a despondent-looking Digimon, pressed a button that transmitted a shock to the Digimon who shook violently for half a second.

Taichi's sanity slipped. He jerked forward, only vaguely registered a hand on his shoulder holding him back.

A forceful whisper behind him said, "I know, but we can't save them right now- we're too late. We'll be sitting ducks the moment we try."

Yamato had maneuvered his body to make it look as if he was just moving Taichi slightly out of the way to see the stage.

Taichi refused to believe that. Keeping his face blank, he spat out through his teeth, "Fuck you, if you're not going to help me, let me go."

"We'll end up dead- we need to tell everyone else what's happening. _Taichi_." Yamato pleaded with him.

It was that slightly broken voice that finally connected with Taichi, who stopped struggling. He knew that Yamato was just as angry and helpless as him.

Moreover, they were breaking protocol. In public, they were never to have any communication. If anyone saw the two of them, it would be a danger to them as well as the rest.

The same thought must have occurred to Yamato because he masked his face and kept walking to the other side of the crowd where his companion was located. He gave one last look to Taichi, one that Taichi was very familiar with, saying _I know how you feel, but don't do anything stupid, Taichi._

One by one, various Digimon were taken to the front of the stage and made to "show off" their abilities. With each one, the crowd grew more and more rowdy at the prospect of owning their own, and the auction bids got higher and higher.

It was strange. They were the Digimon Taichi fondly remembered, but they now appeared lifeless and dispassionate. _What had they done to them? Had they really somehow re-programmed them?_

Taichi watched to keep up appearances, but his eyes were glazed over. In the end, they had saved the children, but it was hard to think of their mission as anything else but a disaster. After hundreds of successful missions, their first failure burned deeply in Taichi's heart. Naturally, he was being too hard on himself. There was no way they could have ever known, could have ever been prepared for _this_. They'd been completely misinformed.

 _Not even the government's large network had picked up on this-_

Taichi paused. Or _had_ they known? Maybe it hadn't just been a coincidence that they had always targeted and kept the Chosen Children under their watch all these years by forcing them into undercover agencies? But, if they had an idea that Digimon were involved, why the hell hadn't anyone told _us, the people who knew the most about Digimon_?

A brief glimpse at his surroundings told him that Mimi and Sora were also stunned, still staring at the stage, momentarily forgetting about their roles. Although their faces were composed from years of training, Taichi could pick up that they were also wrestling with disgust, rage, and sadness.

But they were one of the government's elite groups, and as consummate professionals, they didn't give themselves more than another minute to wallow in their sadness. With tenacious hope in their eyes, they sprung into action with the limited resources they had.

Taichi dedicated every face of each Digimon and buyer to memory, as well as all those running the show. Afterwards, he scoped out the backstage area to the best of his ability without giving himself away, hoping to find any clues as to how the Digimon had been transported.

On the other side of the room, Yamato started casually conversing with an older man, a rich mogul who had bet on one of the first Digimon and won.

In another part of the hotel, Mimi copied the names and any information she could find of every attendant of the event through the hotel roster.

Behind the scenes, Sora meticulously covered all of their tracks so that there wasn't a single indication of who had broken into the hotel room and taken back the children.

They _would_ put a stop to this.

* * *

 **A/N:** Wow, that ended up being a lot more than I'd expected to write. Honestly, I can't really guarantee if or when future updates will be, since I really only wrote this spur of the moment, but I guess if anyone has any potential suggestions for future missions, they might help to jog my brain into writing more? Regardless, let me know what you think and thanks for reading :)


End file.
